Tuesday, February 15, 2005

The Fahrenheit 9/11 Effect

The Carlyle Group has just reported its "best ever" year. The Grauniad says

Carlyle's London managing director, Robert Easton, said Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 had had no effect on the day-to-day running of the company.

"In defence we have less than 1% of our funds deployed, but it is the defence sector that gets most noise from the likes of Michael Moore," he said. "Defence is now such a small part of our business because we have grown massively in other sectors."

Within a few months of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Carlyle bought out the investment in some of its funds of a half-brother of Osama bin Laden. The group says it now has no investments in Saudi Arabia.

How did anyone expect Michael Moore's film to impact on the activities of "the premier global private equity firm"? It's not as if the public could organise a boycott or encourage the company to change its activities on the basis of the film.Compare this to the success Morgan Spurlock had with Super Size Me in getting a response fromMcdonalds. Much as they deny it Spurlock can be credited with the changed menu.

Last time I ate in Mcdonalds was 1984 so I have no personal experience of the new menu but it is getting its own criticism:

Global hamburger giant McDonald's latest line in healthy looking salads may contain more fat than its hamburgers, according to the company's Web site ...

...

For example, on the new menu to be launched at the end of this month, a "Caesar salad with Chicken Premiere" contains 18.4 grams of fat compared with 11.5 grams of fat in a standard cheeseburger.